1. Area of the Art
The present invention relates generally to reagent handling methods and systems used in conjunction with immunodiagnostic instruments, and more specifically to methods and systems for transporting and sorting multiple reagent packs and reagent packs used in conjunction with the systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Throughout this application, various references are referred to within parentheses. Disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Full bibliographic citation for these references may be found at the end of this application, preceding the claims.
Immunodiagnostic instruments are widely used in clinical chemistry sampling and analyzing applications, and often are involved in the processing of multiple reagent packs for performing various assays. Many times it is required that the system be capable of receiving and storing multiple reagent packs in a refrigerated environment in such a manner that each stored pack can be randomly accessed and brought from storage into a position for pipetting. It is desirable for this to be accomplished in such a manner that requires minimal footwork and a degree of freedom.
The following references are found to be pertinent to the field of the present invention: U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,927, issued to Takekawa on Nov. 20, 1984, disclosed a conventional automatic chemical analyzer. It includes a reagent delivery unit having a plurality of reagent bottles and a syringe type dispenser for delivering given amounts of reagents into a plurality of empty reaction vessels set in a cassette, and a reaction vessel supply unit for holding a plurality of cassettes and for supplying successively the reaction vessels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,752, issued to Thorne et al. on Jul. 7, 1987, disclosed a conventional automatic random access analyzer. It includes an elongate rack having a plurality of slots aligned in substantially parallel arrangement along the longitudinal axis of the rack for removably positioning reagent packages, an introduction station for receiving the plurality of reagent packages, each having a plurality of receptacles, a liquid transfer station for transferring the receptacles, a storage area for storing the plurality of reagent packages, and a shuttle system for transporting individual reagent packages.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,342, issued to Kelln et al. on Aug. 16, 1988, disclosed a conventional reagent handling system. It includes a transport mechanism interengageable with a coupling structure for disposing a series of reagent containers for movement past a reagent station.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,825, issued to Weyrauch et al. on May 24, 1994, disclosed a chemical analyzer. It includes a turntable rotatably mounted about a vertical axis and having a plurality of equiangularly spaced radial compartments for releasably mounting a plurality of individually disposable cuvettes, and a sample/reagent tray rotatably mounted about an axis parallel to the turntable axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,549, issued to Maclndoe, Jr. on Jul. 26, 1994, disclosed an assay module transport apparatus for use in an automated analytical instrument. It includes an assay module supply unit for holding magazines with open-faced vessels, each having a layer of material covering its open face, an assay module ejector mechanism having a slider block and a pusher rod mounted on the leading end of the slider block for pushing an assay module from an assay module supply unit onto an assay module receiving platform, an assay module transfer mechanism for transferring the assay module from the assay module receiving platform to a testing system, and a cutter assembly for cutting the layer of material covering the open-faced vessels.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,272, issued to Koch et al. on Nov. 26, 1996, disclosed a reagent kit for use in an automatic analytical apparatus. The reagent kit includes a casing which has a bottom, sidewalls, a removable lid, and at least one individually removable reagent container. The lid defines at least one opening which is of sufficient dimension for circulating air through the interior of the casing and around the reagent container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,822, issued to Carey et al. on Mar. 11, 1997, disclosed a reagent handling system and reagent pack for keeping fluids with or without suspensions, mixed or suspended upon rocking. It includes a tray for slidably retaining a plurality of reagent pack slides in a side by side configuration along an axis, and an inclination drive and hinge mechanically connected to the tray for selectably inclining the tray about the axis and the hinge. U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,074, issued to Katzman on May 12, 1998, disclosed a reagent segment for feeding reagent to the multiple capillaries of the automated capillary electrophoresis apparatus. The reagent segment has an elongated body with an elongated and continuous open trough, a drainage zone in a floor of the trough, and a fill section in the trough sufficiently wide to receive a dispenser probe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,928, issued to Carey et al. on Aug. 4, 1998, disclosed a reagent handling system and reagent packs for keeping fluids with or without suspensions, mixed or suspended upon rocking. The reagent pack has mixing baffles operative to cause mixing of fluids within the reagent pack, where the baffles are disposed in proximity and opposing each other so that a throat region having a pair of converging, then diverging, walls is defined between a pair of baffles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,373, issued to Hutchins et al. on Sep. 21, 1999, disclosed an environmentally controlled system for processing chemical products. It includes a plurality of interchangeable units connected in an array arranged to sequentially receive the products. Each unit has a work station covered by a canopy having at least one open end connected with an open end of an adjacent unit. The interconnected units form an enclosed chamber encompassing the work stations and covered by the interconnected canopies.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,214, issued to Stylli et al. on Nov. 16, 1999, disclosed an automated and integrated system for rapidly identifying useful chemicals in liquid samples, and, more particularly, for automated screening of chemicals with biological activity in liquid samples. The system includes at least one multi-lane sample transporter for transporting the addressable chemical wells between the storage and the sample distribution modules and optionally having programmable control of transport of the selected addressable chemical wells. The addressable wells are commonly organized or integrated into a plurality of addressable plates.
One of the disadvantages of many conventional reagent transporting and storage systems used in conjunction with automated chemical analyzers is that they do not provide a refrigerated environment for receiving and storing multiple reagent packs in such a manner that each stored pack can be randomly accessed and brought from the storage position to the pipetting position. Another disadvantage of many conventional reagent transporting and storage systems is that they have only limited capacities in that they often can service only one single pipetter. They are unable to leave a reagent pack in a pipetting position while moving another reagent pack to another pipetter.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a new method and system for transporting and sorting multiple reagent packs which can be used in conjunction with immunodiagnostic instruments and also overcome the disadvantages of conventional systems for handling reagent packs.